Ruby's 'time warp' eatery celebrates 30th anniversary

Dec. 6, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Ruby's Diner CEO and founder Doug Cavanaugh, right, named his restaurants after his mother, Ruby Cavanaugh, left. The iconic Ruby's waitress image is based on Ruby's high school cheerleading photo. ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ruby's Diner CEO and founder Doug Cavanaugh, left, calls his mom, Ruby Cavanaugh, right, the Ruby's mascot. Doug Cavanaugh named the diners after his mom and her high school cheerleading photo is the inspiration for the iconic Ruby's waitress image. ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ruby's Diner CEO and founder Doug Cavanaugh, left, calls his mom Ruby Cavanaugh, right, the Ruby's mascot. Doug Cavanaugh named the diners after his mom and her high school cheerleading photo is the inspiration for the iconic Ruby's waitress image. ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Ruby's Diner CEO and founder Doug Cavanaugh, right, named his restaurants after his mother, Ruby Cavanaugh, left. The iconic Ruby's waitress image is based on Ruby's high school cheerleading photo.ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

If you go

All Ruby's restaurants, except the ones in John Wayne Airport and at the Shake Shack on Coast Highway, will participate in a special 30th anniversary celebration by offering original 1982 opening day menu items at the original prices from 7 a.m. to closing today.

Ruby's on Balboa Pier will close at 4:30 p.m. for a private celebration. Just today, two eggs any style will sell for $2.25, RubyBurgers for $2.15, Ruby's Famous Fries for $1 and Fantastic Milk Shake for $1.60.

NEWPORT BEACH – Ruby Cavanaugh was not a big fan of her first name, which her grandmother gave her.

Until she saw it lit up in red at the edge of the Balboa Pier.

It was 30 years ago that her son Doug Cavanaugh, after closing down his somewhat-seasonal enterprise in Nantucket Island, left for an early morning jog by the Balboa Pier and came back home with the idea of transforming a dilapidated shack on the pier into a 1940s-inspired diner named after his mother.

Ruby's opened its first diner on Balboa Pier on Dec. 7, 1982, with three employees and a dinner menu of hot dogs, hamburgers and malts. The décor was complete with bright-red vinyl booths, white Formica tables, soda fountains and colorful Coca-Cola posters.

Today, all Ruby's restaurants will harken back to the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the Original RubyBurger sold for $2.15. From 7 a.m. to closing – just today – the restaurants will offer its opening-day menu items at 1982 prices. The Balboa Pier restaurant will close at 4:30 p.m. for a private celebration. The John Wayne Airport location and the Shake Shack will not participate in the promotion.

Ruby Cavanaugh says at the heart of its success is the restaurant's effort to recreate simpler, happier times.

“It's amazing that when you walk into Ruby's, everything is so cheerful,” says Cavanaugh, now 90. “The 1940s was a time when people seemed to be more at ease, but it was also after the war when people were working together to get back on their feet.”

Doug Cavanaugh, founder and CEO, likens a visit to Ruby's to a visit to grandma's house.

“Our world today is so complex and challenged,” he said. “Ruby's is anti-hip and as square as they come. We're happy to be stuck in a time warp.”

Today, Ruby's has 38 restaurants nationwide. Doug Cavanaugh says they have found a new niche in airports. He plans to expand with other airports as well as smaller restaurants that cater to a take-out clientele.

Looking back, Cavanaugh says, the restaurant has been appropriately named.

“Ruby is an old-fashioned name,” he says. “It has character and color, just like my mom. She is an amazing mother, a member of the Greatest Generation. This restaurant is a reflection of my mother and her wonderful spirit.”

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